Verb Tense Consistency

There are three main verb forms for showing time or tense:

    Simple Tense


             Simple present (action goes on now):  I sit

            Simple past:  (action happened and is over):   I sat

            Simple future  (action will happen):   I will sit

 

 

    Perfect Tense

             Present perfect (action happened and may still be going on):   I have sat

            Past perfect (action happened before something happened in the past):  I had sat

            Future perfect (action will be considered in the future, by which time it will have already happened):                                                                                                                                      I will have sat

 

    Progressive Tense  

             Present progressive (action is in progress right now):   I am sitting

            Past: progressive (action was in progress in the past):  I was sitting

            Future progressive (action will be in progress in the future):  I will be sitting

 

Each of the above tenses denotes a specific time for an action or event to take place.  Writers should be careful to use the exact tense needed to describe, narrate, or explain. 

In general . . .

 

 Verb tense consistency on the sentence level

         INCORRECT: 

             
 

         CORRECT: 

                                                         

Since there is no indication that the actions happened apart from one another., there is no reason to shift the tense of the second verb.

 

 Note another example. 

         INCORRECT:

               

 

 

         CORRECT:   

                

The above sentence means that Mary walks into a room at times.  The action is habitual present.  The second action happens when the first one does.  Therefore, the second verb should be present as well.

 

 Change tense only when there is a need to do so.
 Usually, the timing of actions within a sentence will dictate when the tense must change.

 

          CORRECT: 

 The first action will take place in the future; therefore, the second one will as well.

 

             CORRECT:

                 

  The second action took place in the past; the first action occurred before the past action.  Therefore, the first action requires the past perfect tense (had + verb).

 

Verb tense consistency on the paragraph level

          PRESENT TENSE PARAGRAPH

                 

    All actions in the above paragraph happen in the present except for the future possibility dependent upon a
     present action taking place: " If a cat sees the bird, the cat will kill it."

  

          PAST TENSE PARAGRAPH

             

     All of the actions in the above paragraph happen in the past except for the possibility dependent upon
     one action taking place:  "If a cat saw the bird, the cat would kill it." 

  

Verb tense consistency on the essay level 

   1.  Use present tense when writing essays about

          YOUR OWN IDEAS

            

        FACTUAL TOPIC

               

 

         ACTION IN A SPECIFIC MOVIE OR BOOK

           

 
 

NOTE:  When quoting from a work, maintain the present tense in your own writing, while keeping the original tense of the quoted material.

         EXAMPLE (quoted material is shown in  blue)

            

 

     2. Use past tense when writing about

 

         EXAMPLE - PAST EVENT

             

 Note the justified use of present tense in the last sentence (shown in blue).

         EXAMPLE - SCIENTIFIC STUDY

             

  

    3. Use future tense when writing about

    EXAMPLE - FUTURE EVENT

        

 

  Remember . . .

 Note how the following example incorporates  tense change as needed to clarify several time periods.